Diego's Happy Day
by emmarae3579
Summary: NWZ: Just a really silly sappy dream I had the other day. Another way Victoria finds out. And I really cannot think of titles...


Disclaimer: I do not own Zorro, nor do I make any money from writing this story. Dialogue and situations used from the episode are property of ZPI, the rest of the story is my property and cannot be printed or used without my permission.

zzz

Diego sighed happily as he stepped into the tavern. Last night, Victoria had agreed to be his wife. Granted, she had agreed to be Zorro's wife, but he was taking what he could get. He was still afraid she'd despise him when she found out the truth, but he had hope again. Glancing around at the tavern guests, he tried to not smile so broadly. Still, when he smiled at Victoria, she noticed.

"My my, Don Diego, you seem to be in a good mood," Victoria observed as she passed carrying dirty dishes back to the counter. Victoria smiled, too, herself in a good mood. She might have to keep Zorro's engagement ring hidden, but she kept it close to her heart. One day, she'd be able to take it off the necklace around her neck and wear it proudly on her finger.

Diego simply smiled at her and said "Good morning, señorita." He watched her walk away then headed to take a seat with his father.

His father also noticed. "What has you so happy?"

Diego didn't feel like coming up with a lie about something so precious to him. "Oh, just in a good mood this morning I guess."

Victoria came over to their table to take their order. "So señors, what will it be this morning?" As she leaned over to refill Alejandro's coffee, her necklace came free from her bodice. Before she could hide it, Alejandro caught the ring in his hand, recognizing it immediately. He released it when Victoria tugged, but Alejandro straightened in his seat and glared at both of them. Diego seemed very interested in the table all of a sudden and Victoria was blushing all over.

"Explain, now." Diego cringed at the voice his father used, but he couldn't seem to raise his eyes from the table. _How am I going to get out of this?_ He thought.

Victoria was oblivious to the tension between Diego and his father. "Oh, it's just a ring I found last night."

"Diego?" When Diego still didn't look up, he stood. "I want to see both of you in the kitchen, NOW."

Victoria was taken aback. She felt like she was eight years old and in trouble for something. She looked at Diego, but he was slouching and slowly standing up to follow his father. When she didn't move to go precede him, he gently took her elbow and guided her behind the curtain.

He looked around the room he'd spent so much time with Victoria in as Zorro. Those other times, the room felt huge—not private at all and very dangerous. Now, it felt like a closet. Or a coffin, eyeing some knives on the table Victoria might use to eviscerate him in a few minutes. He decided he had to regain some control, but before he could Alejandro was speaking again.

"So now I know why both of you are grinning like loons this morning. But why didn't you tell me?" Alejandro took out his frustration with his quiet son with a slap on the back of his head. He might be a foot taller than him, but Diego was still his son! "Why does your engagement have to be a secret? And—"

"Father—"

"Engagement?"

Diego put his hand on his father's arm and tried to cut him off. "Father, I can explain."

When he paused too long, Victoria pressed in, "What engagement? How do you know about that?"

Alejandro shrugged off his son's hold and pointed to the necklace, once again tucked out of sight. "The ring. You're wearing my wife's ring. Which I gave to my secretive son to give to his bride. Yet here I stand and I didn't even know Diego was courting you!" He added another slap to Diego's chest for emphasis, then gestured toward Victoria, where she'd pulled the necklace out and was looking at the ring. "And you—I thought you were in love with Zorro? Since when are you interested in Diego?"

Diego looked at Victoria's downturned head, not understanding how things could explode out of control so quickly. She looked up, confused, when he spoke. "Father," Taking a deep breath for courage, Diego stood tall and met Victoria's confused eyes. "Zorro asked Victoria to be his wife last night." He held Victoria's gaze as her mouth dropped open in a gasp, and Diego tried not to squirm.

"And it seems you've just unmasked me. In a way I never could have anticipated." He paused, but no one spoke.

"You gave my ring to Zorro?" Diego chuckled at his father's attempt to put things together. Victoria had already come to the truth, he could tell in the firm set of her jaw and the stiffness that had entered her entire body. Her eyes had turned from confused to murderous in a heartbeat.

Diego broke eye contact and took his father's shoulders. "Please, I'll explain everything." Seeing Felipe poke his head through the curtain, he turned his Father toward the door. "Go with Felipe. He'll explain. But this is not the place to have this conversation. Right now I need to talk with Victoria."

Felipe grabbed Alejandro's arm and started pulling the confused man out of the tavern, knowing Diego and Victoria needed time alone. Victoria turned away from them and went to stir the soup in the fire. Seeing Victoria's distress, Alejandro relented and let Felipe drag him out the door. He had to trust his son to do the right thing.

Diego made sure the curtain covered the doorway as much as possible after his father left. Not a lot of privacy, considering Sgt Mendoza was just on the other side of a flimsy curtain. He looked at Victoria, who was focused completely on the pot of stew which really could be left untended for hours. He didn't have a clue what to say.

"Victoria-" he began but didn't get very far. As soon as he said her name, she loudly clapped the spoon against the side of the pot and whipped around to glare at him.

"Diego!" She said, mockingly. The angry expression on her face was what he'd always feared were she to ever figure out the friend she saw every day was the man behind the mask. The accusation in that one word went straight through him. She said nothing more as he stood there squirming.

His hands nervously ran through his hair as he tried to think of something to say. Victoria's gaze went to his hair as if she'd never seen it before. She'd always wondered what Zorro's hair was like. It looked soft, just like she'd always imagined. The urge to test her imagination started to loosen her angry stance.

"Señorita?" Both of them jumped at the loud call from the main room and looked quickly to the closed curtain, trying not to look guilty as Sgt Mendoza's head poked through the curtain. "Do you have any more of that delicious bread you made this morning?"

Victoria stood frozen by the fireplace with wide eyes, and she didn't respond. Diego saw a plate of sliced bread on the countertop and he handed it eagerly to the sergeant.

"Mil gracias Don Diego." He said with a smile. Pausing, with concern in his voice he turned back to the señorita. "Is everything ok? Can I get something for you?"

Diego's hands nervously fidgeted at his sides, and Victoria caught the gesture. Looking into his eyes again, she realized how vulnerable he must feel right now. Diego didn't carry weapons. Toronado wasn't waiting outside the window for a quick escape. She relaxed, eager to put Mendoza's mind at ease. She might want to kill the man, but she didn't want anyone else to!

"Oh yes, everything's fine. You enjoy that hot bread. I sliced it a few minutes ago just for you." She smiled, and Mendoza went back to his meal.

"Is there someplace more private we can talk? Somewhere there aren't knives and lancers you could use as weapons against me?" He gave a little smile at the end, but Victoria had shuttered back up and was glaring at him again. As Victoria went to tell Maria that she was stepping outside for a moment, Diego realized he needed to take control and remind her they love each other. With new determination, he followed her to the outside storage area which had a real door instead of a flimsy curtain.

When she heard the door close behind her, she turned to face her timid old friend. She gasped and took a step back into the wall when she realized he was so close. Diego didn't seem so timid anymore. He followed her to the wall and caged her in with his hands. He kept a respectable distance, but she could feel his body heat and couldn't seem to look away from his eyes.

"So, now you know. The one thing the legendary Zorro is afraid of—that you will reject the man behind the mask." He paused, expecting her temper to start flying at him. "Hit me, yell at me. Say something." Victoria couldn't seem to find her voice. "I'm sorry for all the lies. I had to act the coward and the fool with the sword or everyone would know it was me, but I couldn't stay away from you and tried to be your friend. I never imagined it would go on this long, but I couldn't tell you! Seeing you every day…loving you… is the only thing that keeps me going sometimes."

He paused again, seeing that his words were getting through to her and she was relaxing. She tentatively put up a hand to smooth back his hair which had fallen into his face. "Do you know how hard it is to visit you every day, but know that you love another man? That you may never love Diego? Every night I have to hide behind a mask to protect the people of Los Angeles, yet for myself I cannot have a life…get married… have children…"

The fight seemed to drain out of him at this, and his shoulders and eyes dropped as he leaned heavily on his hands pressed against the wall on either side of her head. He stayed still as Victoria continued her exploration of his features, melding the two men into one. She couldn't deny it. As her hands left his hair to trace the rest of his face, she finally spoke.

"That is why Diego never looked me directly in the eye. Why your eyes followed me when you thought I was not looking."

Diego looked up in surprise and met her gaze. She continued, fidgeting with the ruffles on his fancy suit. "It's clear now. You can't hide it in your eyes, I would have known. You are my best friend. I never could understand why you took everything so passively and never fought. I knew there was a fighter in you. And—" Here she smiled. "I knew you had a crush on me." Diego took a step closer, finally finding hope again. "This explains everything. And I don't love two men, instead only one."

"Two men?" Diego questioned.

"Before Zorro and I … " a furious blush crept up her neck at this point before she cleared her throat and continued "before, I had hoped that you might be interested in me. I was so happy when you were coming home from Madrid. But I thought I wasn't good enough for you."

"Good enough? You're incredible. I love you more than anything in the world." He took a step closer, and Victoria stammered as she became aware of her best friend in a whole new light. Why had she never noticed how tall he was?

"And I love you. Diego. Zorro. The man behind the mask." She laughed suddenly. "Oh of all the times I imagined finding out who you were! I never imagined it would be through Zorro's dad yelling at him!"

Diego chuckled himself. "Yes, I am a grown man, but I've lied to him. Father is going to have a hard time with this. His son is an outlaw with a price on his head. He's going to be angry, but I think he'll come around." She cautiously put her hands on his shoulders and he stepped even closer still. His hands settled at her waist and he finally felt a sense of calm again as he held her to his body.

"But Victoria, Zorro is still needed. Can you keep my secret? If you can't, I swear Zorro will never ride again. You're more important to me than anything else. But if I go on, you'll be in danger. If you call me Diego when Zorro is fighting lancers, we'll both be shot."

Victoria placed her fingers against his lips to stop his worry. "You've been alone in this for far too long." He leaned into her hand as she cupped his cheek, eagerly accepting her caresses without the mask blocking her touch. "You can trust me. All those years worrying if Zorro was injured, or worse… Knowing who you are is better."

Diego pressed a gentle kiss into her palm, and she saw his gaze drop hungrily to her lips. Before he could bend to kiss her, though, once again her fingers held him back. He settled for kissing her fingers, and Victoria had to shake herself to remember her words. "But, I'm afraid Zorro is going to be nursing a broken heart." At this, Diego straightened and started to protest.

Victoria interrupted his argument before he started. "Zorro and everyone else in the pueblo will need to understand that I'm done waiting for Zorro. I have a new suitor. One of the dons has asked to court me, and I've said yes." Diego smiled and hugged her tight, taking her mouth more passionately than Zorro ever had. Before they forgot themselves, Diego took a step back.

"We better get back to the tavern before we're missed. And I must speak with my father. But before I leave, I believe Diego is going to ask Victoria to dinner. No time like the present to start my courtship, especially since we're already engaged." He traced the necklace down from her neck to her bodice, and Victoria gasped at the sensation. He gently tugged and soon he had the ring in his hand.

"I guess I wasn't thinking when I gave you this. Many people might recognize it. I was so close last night… I was so tired of hiding from you. But I was also terrified you would laugh if I took off my mask and revealed that I was the coward of the pueblo. My father did me a great service today."

"Diego, your father didn't seem happy. Maybe he… he doesn't want you marrying a common waitress."

Diego laughed. "A common waitress? Hardly. You're a business owner and a leader in the pueblo. My father doesn't care about that, and neither do I." Caressing her face and bringing her hand up to caress his own, he continued, "You have no idea how much I hated having that mask between us. And to touch you without the gloves…" Diego couldn't keep himself from kissing her again. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as he lifted and pressed her tighter against the wall. Something fell off a shelf and Diego sighed as he brought his lips up to her forehead.

Reluctantly, he took a few steps back and released her. "A few minutes ago I said we should leave… quit distracting me." He boldly tucked the ring back into her bodice. She swatted his arm as he took her hand. They blinked at the sunlight as they quickly re-entered the kitchen. Diego gave her one last quick potent kiss before ducking out of the kitchen, leaving Victoria to collect herself.

Which was pretty hard to do. She paced her kitchen, picking everything up and putting it right back down again. She looked at the window and tried to picture non-athletic Diego bounding through it to escape discovery. She laughed and shook her head. In such a short time, everything she knew about Diego and Zorro had been twisted around and it was pretty confusing. But wonderful!

zzz

Author's Note: Who knew it was so hard to write a kissing scene? This is pointless, sappy and probably not very good but I just liked the idea of Alejandro outing him without realizing it.


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